He saw light through the cracks on the bottom of his coffin. It did not flicker like from a fire, small or big. He tried to break the bottom of his coffin and the he fell.

He regained consciousness on a table, after he opened his eyes everything was blurry, he couldn`t move otherwise. Then he heard a voice, he closed his eyes and focused on it. The voice belonged to a man who was clearly angry about something. He didn`t understand what the man said, as he spoke switching between two languages, one his own and another he didn`t know. The voice came closer; he could feel someone standing beside him. Someone opened his eyes and dripped something on his eyes, then the man closed them again. After that he lost consciousness again.

When he woke it felt like an eternity had passed. Slowly he came back to his senses. After a while Falko managed to get on his feet somehow. It was no quite dark around him, but he could only see shadows and rough shapes. He got to the wall and followed it to the door. After he opened it he saw a small light in the distance. The walls around him were rough like a cave. He began slowly walking towards the light and as he reached it the light dazzled him for a while. After a while his eyes adjusted and he could see his surroundings. He knew this place, it was not far from the graveyard. Falko wondered what he should do, clearly something strange happened to him. He decided to go back to his castle. There he could at least find some answers.

He slowly moved towards the castle. The first house he saw seemed somehow strange, he did not know why, but something seemed amiss. When he moved through half the houses around his family castle it hit him like lightning. The houses, they were ruins, decayed, mossy, empty. It can wait for late he thought and moved towards the castle.

The gate to the castle was open and as he crossed it he saw only bones. The courtyard was filled with them. He moved closer to inspect them. He could see no meat only bones, like whatever happened, happened a long time ago. Weapons and other, common things were everywhere. He moved faster towards the center of the castle, trough rooms and corridors and everywhere he went he saw only bones and rusted and decayed things.

Finally he reached his chamber. Falko didn`t know what to do, the castle and it`s vicinity seemed empty, besides the bones. Like a puppet he moved towards the well, he pulled up a bucket of water and tipped it over himself. Cold water flowed over him and his mind and his vision regain some clarity. He looked down and saw that he was wearing only rags, rags which were once his noble death dress. He pulled another bucket of water from the well and began cleaning himself. Do what you can do, even if they were small steps.

He washed himself and walked to his chamber, to hopefully find some better clothes. He searched through a few rooms and a simple pair of trousers and a shirt with next to no holes was all he could find that was passable. He wandered through the castle until he became sleepy. He sat down on a stone bench and fell asleep.

In his sleep he dreamed, he dreamed of a lone figure walking through the wilderness on a rough path. At the back you could see a castle, from which the figure most likely came. The figure reached a guidepost on the path on it where the letters “SW”. Then he woke and he knew what he needed to do. His grandfather taught him to never ignore dreams and he never did and was not going to start. South-West it is then.

He began to gather his thoughts and planed his next few steps. Frist he would gather anything usable and lightweight and then travel to the south-west.

First he looked for a backpack and the started to gather things he would need. A pan, a water bag, flint and tinder from the kitchen and other small things. He the remembered the secret chamber of his family and made his way there. He found it unopened. Inside nothing much was left. What could rot and decay did so. He only found a bit of gold and a usable helmet, which only left the eyes exposed. Then he found three bulky chests. When he opened the first he only saw wax paper, as everything inside was wrapped up in multiple layer of wax paper. Inside of it where a brigandine, two bracers, two pauldrons and a mail shirt. In the second chest he found padding and some leather boots all also wrapped up in was paper. The third chest he found again more things wrapped up in wax paper. Inside of the wax paper were a bardiche, his favorite weapon, an arming sword and a hunting knife. He remembered seeing an intact mirror in his chamber and began moving everything there. As he looked in the mirror he saw that his skin seemed strange, it was somewhat grey and pale. He removed his clothes and inspected himself, what he saw frightened him. On some parts of his body bones looked through his skin, especially his right hand. What was he? Is he even alive?

After a while he got out of his thoughts and began dressing, after all he it was just another mystery in day full of them.

First a shirt, then trousers, boots, padding, mail shirt, brigandine, bracers, pauldrons and finally the helmet. Next came the belt around his waist, hanging from it the arming sword and the hunting knife. He found some leather gloves and added the to his attire.

In the meantime, he had resigned himself to whatever it was, it explained a great deal, for example why the armor felt so light. He decided to set off and keep it a secret for now, which meant that his right hand had to be always covered. After all, he did not want to be killed by the first living people he met, even if it sounded funny because it seems he is already dead.

He thought about how to get to the next village, on foot it would take a long time.

Although it was very unlikely, he searched through all the stables, all empty and there were often horse skeletons. He was about to give up, and his private stable with his favorite horse caught his attention. On the way, he felt a strong smell of decay, the haze much stronger than the rest of the castle. Cautiously he entered the stable, there was no one there, but now he saw from what the smell came from. In the horse box of his beloved horse, a beautiful black horse, lay a carcass, which, unlike the rest of the bodies in the castle, was incredibly well preserved. Grief struck Falko, he realized all the things he lost.

He leaned against a post, knocking over a pitchfork which fell to the ground, suddenly he heard a noise and the carcass of his favorite horse, named Marush, lifted his head. Completely confused, he opened the horse box, went to the horse and touched it. It had been made to the same thing that he was. He stayed long beside the horse and stroked it, it was the only thing left to him from his life.

After a long time of pondering, he decided to take Marush with him, he saddled the horse, and he put his old horse armor on Marush. He also put a cloth over the head of Marush, which he had previously cut two big holes for his eyes in, as the head had decayed parts. He was satisfied with his work, Marush and he himself did not look dead, at least not at first glance. Falko von Rudkowske grabbed his belongings, mounted Marush and rode off, he left his land, maybe forever.

Falko rode for a long time, he did not notice how his homeland was rotten and how the world had changed, he had only a few thoughts but they were all the more intense. His thoughts were all about what he was and why.

After five days he reached an inn, Falko hoped he would find some information or at least rumors. He would be glad to find out anything. Falko put Marush on the drinking trough and entered the inn.

Shamefully, a better word Falko did not know for this inn, but better than nothing. The innkeeper stood by the counter, looking suspiciously towards him, two tables were occupied. There were two young men on one of them, and one man on the other. Falko went to the innkeeper, ordered two beers, and went with them to the individual man. Falko said to him, "Good evening, may I sit down for a beer." The man replied with a nod at which Falko sat down and put a beer before him and one before the man. "I am Falko and what is your name?", "Pelch" answered the man. "You look like someone who has come around a lot and that is the reason why I would like to ask them something," said Falko.

"You're direct, all right ask" he replied. "I would like to have information about a castle that lies five days on horse to the North of here. Do you happen to know something about it? ".Pelch frowned, "Do you mean the ruins full of skeletons?". "Exactly," said Falko. "Well, I can tell you something, but they're more local legends. You must know I took shelter there before a storm. I spent the night in the ruins and heard strange things. Terrified, I left the ruins the next morning. When I told the people in the next village, they were almost frightened. One of them then told me the story of the ruins, "said Pelch. "Tell me the story, for I've been looking for something like that," said Falko. Pelch nodded and began to tell

"Well, once this ruin was the seat of an aristocratic family, they had not much power, but still lived quite well. One day an evil magician came to this castle and enchanted the castle owner. The magician experimented with the people of nearby villages, and he spread diseases among the people. Like so many, the castle owner also died to one of these diseases. After the castle owner had died, all the people gathered from the surrounding area and attacked the magician, who now saw himself as the castle owner. The mage had no one who was faithful to him, but with his black magic he conjured unholy beasts that killed many of the attackers. But in the end the Good triumphed and the mage vanished. He escaped the judgment of men. The castle and its surroundings had changed in the time of the magician and the people did not want to live in such an unholy place, so they all moved away from this place. "

" The magician, do you know his name? "Falko asked. "The narrator called him 'Cil,'" said Pelch. Falko thought, the magician is gone, even if it is difficult to find him, I will do it, for myself, for those that died innocent deaths and for those that in the future will die because of him. Only where should he begin to look, maybe he should just look for similar events, he decided to ask Pelch.

"Yes, i have heard about similar stories. Maybe seven or eight days to the West, there is a story of a beast. It is said to be an animal possessed by a demon, it has killed some people. As far as I know, this was a long time ago, even though it is said that it is going to show up again and again. "

"Thank you for the two stories" Falko said, and then went to the innkeeper to buy some provisions.